'Exported Nigeria yams weren't rejected'

'Exported Nigeria yams weren't rejected' - Ministerial Aide

Yams harvested for market

By YUSUF GOJE

The Technical Assistant to the Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Quality Control and Standardization, Mrs Heather R. Akanni, has adjudged Nigerian yams to be of high quality, debunking claims by some section of the media that the first exported products of yam were rejected due to poor quality.

She stated that: “Nigerian yams were not rejected because of quality, but due to the long period it took to arrive its destination, some of the products got spoiled along the way. Unfortunately, some of the media outfits only chose to harp on a baseless standpoint that they were rejected".

She disclosed that, "the law banning yam export is being reviewed and presently at the second reading stage in the National Assembly”. In ensuring that our yams continue to meet the international standards, she said, clustering of farmers to ensure that only approved certified yam seeds were made available to them is necessary.The ministerial aide reiterated that having quality seeds was not enough because extension services were needed as well to ensure right application by farmers.

Mrs Akanni who was speaking on Tuesday during her interface with an advocacy group at the meeting to finalize advocacy briefs on Agriculture Seeds, held at Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) Office, Maitama, Abuja, expressed satisfaction with organizers of the event.

Highpoint of the meeting facilitated by PERL was the merger of two advocacy groups working on farmers’ limited participation in agriculture policy making processes and strengthening extension services around seeds.

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